1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to wireless communication systems and in particular to wireless communication systems for schedule management through communication to one or more wireless communication devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, when a person has an event to attend in the future such as a meeting, appointment, or luncheon, the person typically records the details of the event as an entry in a calendar which may be, for example on a desktop PC. These details can include the date, time, and location of the event along with an alert. The alert is set to remind the user at a predetermined time before the event is to begin.
Recently, designers of portable wireless communication devices (i.e. cellular phones, pagers, and palm top computers) are including software applications, which emulate desktop PC software applications in their products. These software applications can enable users to keep track of their schedules while away from their desk, such as while traveling. The software application in the portable wireless communication device can include a calendar system or event reminder based upon the time. Specifically, a future event having a future time can be identified and stored. A comparison of the current time and the stored future time determines when to provide an indication such as an alert to the user that the identified future event is approaching. This allows the user sufficient time to prepare for or travel to a specific location where the future event will take place.
One disadvantage to a time based event reminder is that the user must determine how far in advanced of a future event the user should be reminded of the future event. For example, a user must decide today that, for a meeting that will occur next month, a 10-minute advance notice will be a sufficient amount of time to prepare for or travel to the location of the event. However, when the user finds he is physically located too far from the location of the future event so that the 10 minute advance notice would not allow enough time to travel to the location of the scheduled event, the user will not arrive at the event in time. Given that one month has passed since the event was originally entered in the event reminder, there could be several different factors that could cause the user to be delayed or miss the event all together when the original advance notice is utilized. For example, reasons could include unexpected traffic delays, sudden illness, car trouble or the user forgetting about the future event until being reminded just minutes before the event is to occur. Therefore, time based event reminders may not provide sufficient notification for the event.
Additionally, once a user has determined that the upcoming scheduled event cannot be attended on time, the user may desire that another associate attend the scheduled event in place of themselves. This requires the user to contact numerous alternative associates to determine if they are in a location which allows them to attend the scheduled event on time and subsequently provide the details of the event (i.e. location, subject matter, etc). The user may also desire to inform a contact person located at the upcoming scheduled event location that he/she may not be able to attend the event on time. This requires a user to determine the appropriate contact information for the upcoming scheduled event and initiate a call or message to be sent to the contact person.
Another disadvantage of existing reminder methods is that changes to the user""s calendar must be made manually. That is, when the event is canceled or postponed and the user""s assistant is notified of the change, the event entry in the calendar must then be manually updated by the assistant or by the user to reflect the change. When the user stores the calendar and associated notifications on a portable wireless communication device the calendar system located in the portable wireless communication device must also be updated. When the assistant makes any additional changes to the user""s schedule, adding another event in the original event""s place, the original calendar, for example located on a desktop PC, again must be updated and the user must be notified of the change. This may not be easily accomplished. When, for some reason, the assistant is not able to reach the user, then the user""s portable calendar will not be manually updated and the new event may be missed.
Recently portable wireless communication devices include the capability to determine current location. For example, a wireless communication system can use well-known direction and location-finding techniques at each base station site in order to fix the location of the portable wireless communication device. The current location can be computed by triangulation when two or more transmitter base stations receive the same signal or by any other well-known technique. Once the portable wireless communication device""s location is determined, it may be used along with current traffic data, as in the previous case, to calculate the user""s travel times and the distance to a particular point of interest.
Similarly, the portable wireless communication device can include a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for determining its current location. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide radio-navigation system formed from a constellation of twenty-four (24) satellites and their ground stations. GPS uses satellites as reference points to calculate positions accurate to a matter of meters.
Therefor, what is needed is a system and method for schedule management, which includes a user""s current location and the location of the future event.